Finishing a not-so-finished encaustic piece of art

 Sometimes I'm not sure if a picture is finished or not.  When that happens, I move it to some very visible spot (usually in the living room) where I will pass it repeatedly during the day and can decide if there's something missing, or if it's done.  

Usually, my first clue that the painting is not finished is the fact that I am wondering that very thing; so have refused to sign a picture until I know it's ready to go out into the world and be seen in public.

This encaustic painting is an example.  You will see the semi-finished version in the post just previous to this one.  Though it was okay, I had a funny feeling it needed more, and indeed it did.  

After several days of it sitting around in various spots in my living room, it finally got my attention and fairly screamed what I had been needing to hear.  

The first subliminal message came while I was sleeping and woke me to make note of the fact that I needed to get the rusty, flat wire that I had found on our property and use it to make the 3 spirals and a zig-zag design that is now imbedded in the art work.

The next day, as I contemplated that step, I thought I needed to add color to set off the wire and do a shellac burn on the whole thing (twice).  

Now that all that is done I'm very happy with the picture and the picture is quiet, which tells me it is happy to be complete, too.  I can add my signature, now.